Map Skills

We are doing a unit on map skills right now.  Our learning targets this past week have been focused around continents, oceans, and a compass rose.  When we first started, I had a large number of student misconceptions.  I am proud to report that my students are now grasping the idea that there is only one Pacific Ocean (even though it is listed twice on a map), that to drive north really means you are moving forward in a particular direction (not driving towards the sky), and that a globe is a smaller version of our planet (the same way a toy car is a smaller version of a real car).  Phew!!

I found some great songs & poems online to help with remembering the names of the continents:

Tune – Row, Row, Row Your Boat

North, North, North America,

South America,

Europe, Asia, Africa,

Australia, and Antarctica.

Tune – Frere Jacques

There are seven,

There are seven,

continents,

continents,

North and South America,

Europe, Asia, Africa,

Australia,

Antarctica.

To learn the seven continents

think of the letter A.

And when you’re down to only one,

an E will save the day.

There’s Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Asia, too.

The oceans run between them with their waters deep and blue.

There’s also two Americas, North and South, you see.

Now, we’re coming to the end,

Europe starts with E!

Some great resources we have been using:

  

Teacher Created Materials Map Skills, Grade 2

Scholastic Success with Maps, Grade 2

 
Evan-Moor Daily Geography, Grade 2

Our District has provided the following resources for us to use:

National Geographic Map Essentials

The Nystrom Nystronaut Atlas

I’ve been “Pin”spired to try a new mapping activity.

Based on the book: Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney, students create their own Me on the Map Books.  I already have the book.  In the past, we created a circle book, but all of the pages were the same size.  I like the way the different-sized circles can represent how big the world is in comparison to your neighborhood or school, kind of like zooming in.

Source: Finally in First

Do you teach map skills to your students?  Any other great project ideas that I am missing out on?